


Bring on the Dancing Horses

by a_lanart



Series: Torchwood 4: Lost and Found [8]
Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Community: consci_fan_mo, Crossover, Gen, Torchwood 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-29
Updated: 2010-01-29
Packaged: 2017-10-06 19:46:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_lanart/pseuds/a_lanart





	Bring on the Dancing Horses

**Title**: Bring on the Dancing Horses  
**Author**: A Lanart  
**Character(s)/pairings**: Ianto, Owen, OCs  
**Fandom and/or Prompt:** Torchwood 4   
**Rating**: PG  
**Spoilers/Warnings**: None. Part of my ongoing Torchwood 4 Series.  
**Disclaimer**: Anything you might recognise doesn't belong to me.   
Title from the song of the same name by Echo and the Bunnymen

~*~

Bring on the Dancing Horses

*

Mitch was convinced the universe had it in for him. He wondered what he'd ever done to make it so mad but had never managed to come up with a suitable explanation for why, so in the end went with 'because it can' as it seemed like the most sensible answer.

He'd thought his luck had changed when Dorothée Gale McShane – or Thea as they'd come to call her – had showed up and they'd managed to get themselves back to reality, even if it was a few years later than they'd left and in Liverpool to boot. She'd also been willing to take the reins of Torchwood 4 from his unwilling hands after that and when they'd had a bonding session or two over explosives down on the range he finally thought he was home and dry.

He should have known better; the universe still had it in for him.

The latest example of this was knocking on their front door and demanding, in a very loud Liverpool accent, to be let in to discuss all things Torchwood. It wouldn't have been a problem, but his new boss was away and decisions had automatically defaulted to him in her absence. He was not happy, and he had no idea what to do with the women on his literal doorstep who knew things they shouldn't.

In desperation he turned to the only person he thought would be able to help.

*

It had been a slow day for Torchwood Cardiff; Jack was off hobnobbing with the new leader of Torchwood 4 goodness knows where – or when – and the rift seemed curiously settled. Ianto was not going to complain, however; it gave him a chance to catch up on the mountains of paperwork that seemed to breed whenever you turned away from them. Not that he really *wanted* to do the paperwork, but it was a necessary evil he was certain that no-one else would do it if he didn't. He'd been ignoring the phone in Jack's office – Owen was on office duty for the next couple of hours – when Owen yelled for him.

"Oi! Ianto! You'd better take this; your mate in Lala land wants you." Owen was not terribly impressed by Torchwood 4 now being in Liverpool; Ianto didn't really see the issue, but that wasn't exactly a surprise – it was Owen. He trudged up to Jack's office wondering just what can of worms Mitch had unearthed; he would find out soon enough, no doubt. With a sigh, Ianto picked up the phone.

"Ianto Jones," he announced carefully. He wasn't entirely certain which one of the Torchwood 4 team was on the phone after all.

"Oh God, Ianto, am I glad to catch you!"

It was Mitch; can of worms time, then.

"What appears to be the problem?" Ianto asked.

"I've got 2 mad Scouse women on the doorstep demanding to be let in."

"They aren't Jehovah's Witnesses?"

"No they bloody aren't Jehovah's Witnesses!"

"Then just say 'no thanks' to whatever it is they're selling, and get rid of them."

"Stop pissing around Ianto, this is serious! They're spouting all this stuff about aliens and knowing what Torchwood is doing in Liverpool right there in public!"

"Ah." An unsettling thought flittered into Ianto's mind. "I don't suppose one of your mad Scouse women happens to be a goth, does she?"

"A goth? What the hell has that got to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question, Mitch."

"She's the one doing all the talking. If you can call it talking, that is. I'm sending you a visual."

Ianto quickly logged himself on to Jack's computer, and the machine pinged with an incoming message. As he expected, one of the women had a very familiar face.

"I think you'd better let them in, Mitch."

"What?"

"Your verbose Scouse goth just happens to be known to Torchwood; name of Helen Evans. She's also resistant to retcon. No idea who the other one is, though. If they've been determined enough to find you they aren't going to leave you alone any time soon. Maybe you should find out what they want; it might even be useful."

"You're actually serious."

"Completely."

"Fuck. Why me?"

"It's because you've got one of those faces, Mitch. Have fun, and let me know how it goes."

"You're not hanging up on me, Ianto! I…"

"Bye, Mitch. I think you'd better go and open the front door…" Ianto couldn't help smirking as he put down the phone; he supposed it was a bit evil of him, but he couldn't bring himself to care overmuch. Helen had proved herself worthy of Torchwood's trust in Cardiff, and if she wanted to be a part of it in Liverpool then Mitch, and Thea McShane, would be fools not to take advantage of that enthusiasm. Ianto was still puzzled by the other woman in the image though, he was sure he'd seen her somewhere before, but couldn't quite remember when. He ran through his recent visit to Liverpool in his head as he made his way to the coffee machine, paying particular attention to anyone he'd spoken to outside of the Torchwood 4 base. He burst out laughing when he realised where he'd met her. It had been in the coffee shop by the university, where she'd actually provided him with the best cup of coffee he'd had, outside of his own, in ages. She hadn't had pink hair then, which is why he hadn't recognised her at first.

"What's got into you?" Owen grumbled at him. Ianto fought to get his laughter under control, but couldn't wipe the grin from his face.

"It looks like Torchwood 4 might have landed a barista of their very own."

"What's so funny about that?"

"She flirts about as much, and as indiscriminately, as Jack."

"And she's from Liverpool?" Owen asked. Ianto nodded. "God help them," Owen continued. "They're going to need it. Now are you actually going to make coffee with that damn machine or what?"

"Coffee, definitely. It's too early for 'or what'" Ianto said, grinning at the face Owen pulled at him. He needed a coffee after that phone call, and the paperwork would always be there later.

*

Mitch sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. This wasn't exactly what he'd envisaged happening when he let the two women in and sat them down to talk. His head hurt.

"Let me get this straight, Helen. You want to come and work for Torchwood?" The dark head nodded. "And you think we need to run a 'Well Alien' clinic?" Another nod; she gestured at her pink-haired friend and herself.

"We know Shiv who runs the Oxford isn't from around here," she said. How she'd managed to ferret out that little nugget of information Mitch would love to know; he indicated she should continue. "And we know from Cardiff that there are other extra-terrestrial Aliens living in this country so we thought it would be a really good idea if they had a place to come to where they could get their health checked out properly, without having to hide who or what they are."

"And you are the right people for the job, because?"

"No-one else has thought of doing it. Why the hell else, soft lad?" Helen's pink-haired friend – Claire – added with a warm smile. Mitch had to admit she had a point, though he could have done without being called soft lad, even with the smile that accompanied it; Claire was kind of cute.

"And we're reassuringly freaky," Helen said with a grin. Mitch was sure that reassuring and freaky weren't words that usually went together, though if you were dealing with aliens on a daily basis it was probably essential. He'd also been impressed by Helen's air of professionalism; she'd obviously put a lot of thought into her sales pitch, never mind the CV that she'd passed over to him when he'd eventually let them through the door. One thing that had hit the right note with him was the fact that neither she nor Claire had tried to play down their individual quirks, both physical and otherwise, even though it meant he'd had to stop himself from trying to count the combined number of obvious piercings between them; they weren't trying to be anyone else apart from themselves and he appreciated that. He had a feeling that his new boss would, too and that cemented his decision.

"Reassuringly freaky or not, I think you do have something to offer Torchwood, but this is not a decision I can make alone," Mitch said.

Claire nodded hard enough to make the rings in her ears clink together.

"Gotta ask Boss-lady first. We get it."

"Don't call us, we'll call you, I presume?" Helen asked.

"Something like that," Mitch replied. "I'll need to keep hold of this for now." He tapped the CV and outline business plan on the desk. "Though I can return it anytime I suppose; I know where to find you." He pushed his chair back, signalling that the 'interview' was over and the two women gathered their things together. He showed them out and leaned against the door with a sigh of relief after he'd closed it; it had all turned out a lot better than he'd expected when he first opened the door. He had little doubt that soon they would have another two members of their team, which could make life in Torchwood 4 very interesting indeed.


End file.
